Which Course Is Right For You?
When deciding which course is right for you, lots of factors should be considered in your decision. Indeed, it is not a decision which should be taken lightly, after all, taking a course is a big commitment and often turns into a lifelong career. However, what we’ve noticed here at Search Courses, is that many people take courses for the wrong reasons. So, here are 8 key points which may help you make the right decision as to which course is right for you.
1) Passion.
This is the most important thing when choosing a course. If you’re passionate about something, nothing can stop you from succeeding, there’s no end to what you can achieve and how hard you can work to achieve it. You’d be surprised by just how far passion can take you and motivate you. When picking a course, it’s essential that you’re passionate about the topic. An effective way to determine whether you’re passionate is by how excited you are about the course. The more excited the better.
Be careful though! You may be passionate about the idea of a course, but not the course itself. We’ve seen this before, people are so excited, then when it comes to actually studying the course they realise it’s not for them. For this reason, we suggest you don’t make any overnight decisions but rather, take some time to decide if the course is right for you. It may even be more beneficial to start with a short course or certificate course. This is a safe way to ‘test the waters’ and decide if a topic is right for you before committing to a longer course. You can read more about all the course types here.
2) Time Dedication.
Think about how long you want to take to complete your studies. This includes both the total duration, and the hours of study required per week for the course. Keep in mind that in many cases, the more weekly hours you’re willing to put in, the faster you’ll finish your course. For example, a bachelor’s degree typically takes 3 years full-time, and 4 years part-time to complete. Weigh up how much time you have available to dedicate to studying.
From our experience, most people say they can do more hours than they actually can. Many students come saying they’re ready to study full-time and as such, sign-up for full-time and full-on courses. However, when push comes to shove, they quickly fall behind due to over-estimating how much they were actually willing to study. Therefore, initially, we urge you to take on less hours than you think you are going to study. If it turns out you want to take on more hours after all, it’s much safer and easier take on more than take on less. You can read more about the length of each course type and hours required here.
3) Study Method.
Good courses such as the ones listed on Search Courses offer flexible study options to suit your situation. Whether you work full-time, have a family, have never studied before, haven’t studied in a long-time, want to travel overseas or cannot travel to class, many courses can be taken at your own pace, entirely online or in any mixture of ways which caters to your situation. It is important to consider your current situation, and account for any changes which may happen in the duration of your studies.
As the option is there, make sure you primarily build your course around your situation and not the other way around. Many students try to change their situation to fit their course and struggle to maintain the change. By giving users the ability to filter between courses which are delivered online, face to face, or both, Search Courses makes it easy for anyone to pick the course which suits their situation. To find the course which best suits your situation, click here.
4) Skill Level.
A major question to ask yourself is “am I qualified enough to take on this course?”. There is no shame in being under-qualified, many would argue that being under-qualified is the best part because there are so many wonderful and exciting things to learn. Furthermore, with a little hard work and dedication, you’ll be qualified for whichever course you set out to complete.
However, it is essential that you don’t over-estimate your skill level when choosing the course that’s right for you. You can read more about all the Australian post-high school courses in order from easiest to hardest, including all their knowledge, skill, and education requirements here. On the other hand, if you have existing knowledge and skills, whether in the form of an accredited qualification or not, you may also be eligible for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). To learn more about RPL, click here.
5) Employment.
If you can’t find a course you want to take or are struggling to get passionate or excited about any course, you’re not alone. One method around this to ensure you still pick the right course is to consider what job you want, and work backwards from there. For example, if you want to be a chef, a hospitality course may be a good choice, if you want to be a makeup artist, a makeup course may be right for you and if you want to work in business, a business course would fit nicely.
Take note though, remember that a lot of work goes into what eventually becomes that dream job. So, expect a lot more important background theory work. It’s not all glitz and glamour straight away, but if you want the glitz and glamour, you must put in the grunt work. You can read about all the subjects and units involved in each course after selecting your course here.
6) Motives.
Too often at Search Courses, we see students who are taking the course to make others happy, or to impress others, rather than taking the course for themselves. Now, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to impress others and make others proud, it’s part of our nature. However, referring back to the other sections, make sure you personally are passionate about the course topic and capable of meeting it’s requirements. That is, make sure you are not simply passionate about looking successful or satisfying other people.
At Search Courses, we’ve found that those who do the course for other people and not for themselves are far less likely to succeed and get the most out of their course. Furthermore, they’re far more likely to fall behind very quickly, dislike the course and get bored. Even when they complete the course, any future career in that area is likely not for them.
7) No Idea What To Do?
At some point in time, we’ve all taken a step back and realised we have no idea what we want to do. We can’t think of anything we’re really passionate about… and we just plain ‘don’t know’. If you feel this way, I’m sure you know you’re not alone, because most of your friends probably also feel this way. You may have some small idea of which direction you want to go in but aren’t convinced.
If you’re facing this situation, a good way to find some courses you might like is to simply browse through courses and see if any spark your interest. You can sift and scroll through all the courses available at Search Courses here.
8) Price.
When deciding on a course, while it’s important to consider the price of the course, we encourage you not to let that be the deciding factor as to whether you take the course. Rather, consider the price in the perspective of more important things like the benefits a course gives you and other reasons you want to take the course. For example, you don’t buy a plane ticket just to sit on a plane, you buy a plane ticket for the destination.
Furthermore, thankfully many courses have great funding options, where you can study now and pay later. So, you may like to consider the price compared to the income of your future job, where if you’ve picked the course that’s right for you, you’re likely to earn more than enough money to pay off any course fees. Or, you could consider paying for a course like paying for a gym membership, as an investment in yourself for a better future.
